


flash focus

by jjokkiri



Category: Produce 101 (TV), X1 (Korea Band)
Genre: Light Angst, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Strangers to Lovers, model!yohan, photographer!seungwoo, yocat are best friends, yohan is seungwoo's most loyal fanboy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2019-12-28
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:07:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21997243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjokkiri/pseuds/jjokkiri
Summary: For as long as he knew how to admire art, Yohan could recall that headoredthe work of a photographer called ‘Han Seungwoo’.He never imagined that he would have a chance to work with him.
Relationships: Han Seungwoo/Kim Yohan, Kim Wooseok | Wooshin/Lee Jinhyuk
Comments: 14
Kudos: 99





	flash focus

**Author's Note:**

> If I'm honest with myself, this is derived from watching Victon's _Remember Me_ music video too many times on repeat. 
> 
> And a sincere thank you to the WIP Olympics for pushing me to finish this.

As he was growing up, Kim Yohan always dreamed about the spotlight. He always wondered what it felt like to be under the bright lights in a photo studio with all the cameras on him. The attention of the cameras on him was always a concept that had him enticed, wondering what it was like to have all eyes on you as you enter the room because of the awestriking aura celebrities seemed to exude. Even as a child, he posed for cameras to take his photos with bright smiles and confident poses. He was praised for it as a child, never shying away from the lenses focused on him whenever and wherever. He loved the attention. 

Although the fixation he had on fame faded as he grew older, realizing that it wasn’t the most practical career, it lingered somewhere in the back of his mind that living in the limelight was something that he wanted at some point in his life. And it wasn’t difficult for him to know what he wanted to do when he, at eighteen, was scouted by the modelling agency his best friend worked for.

Yohan grew up knowing that he wanted to live in the limelight despite the burden of fame. He always knew that he wanted to work with famous people—celebrities and the like—and aspired to be someone that other people would look up to. He jumped at his opportunities.

He was a rookie in his field. He had only been modelling for three years of his life, much less than his coworkers. They treated him like a baby whenever they saw him and to a degree, it was almost annoying that they were insistent that they were different because he entered the industry a little later than models usually did. He was a fledgling who only just started climbing the ladder to fame. And no matter how much attention he garnered over the years, in comparison to his coworkers, his experience was minimal.

Most of his deals were cut out for beginners, rookies who were still learning the ropes in the industry.

Sometimes, he got lucky and scored a runway deal. He held his head high for the flashing cameras when he got those deals. But most of the time, he spent his time sitting in front of a plain backdrop in a photo studio with a new, strange product in his hands that he knew his manager used. Kim Wooseok, his manager and best friend of ten years, always seemed to manage to score his contracts with the brands that he frequently used. At some point, Yohan began to wonder if it was all a ploy to get the PR packages sent to their apartment for free—if it was, he wouldn’t mind it too much.

Wooseok was a great manager. He was good at what he did. Yohan wasn’t the first model that he worked with. It helped that Wooseok knew his best friend better than anyone but his experience was what Yohan needed to get a foothold in the industry. He needed someone with the experience and knowledge of how to pull the ropes to really get his name into the world. Wooseok did a good job of that.

Wooseok was also very good at informing him of every detail about every deal that he signed him up for. Wooseok always told him every detail beforehand and made sure that Yohan was okay with endorsing a certain brand before he dragged him out of their shared apartment to drive him to the studio.

This time, Wooseok didn’t tell him anything about the job, aside from the vague text message a week earlier that told him to take good care of his skin because he had an important photoshoot lined up.

Wooseok practically dragged him out of the apartment in the morning and pulled him to the washroom to style a sleepy Yohan’s hair. He didn’t say a single word from the moment they got into the car until they got to the studio—aside from their pitstop at a drive-through coffee shop where he was forced to speak.

Wooseok’s footsteps were quick—he was smaller than Yohan but he moved at the speed of light, down the hallway—and Yohan’s longer strides needed to work hard to catch up to the smaller man. And he wouldn’t answer a single question that Yohan asked him until they were in the studio.

The studio was bright, pristine and unfamiliar; Yohan had yet to come to this specific studio in his three years of modelling. And catching up with Wooseok was so difficult that he hadn’t even gotten the opportunity to sneak a peek at the neon display of the owner’s autograph mounted on the wall.

An exasperated sigh left Yohan’s lips.

“You’re acting so suspicious, hyung,” Yohan remarked as he followed his manager down the hallway of the photo studio. Wooseok held back his laughter as he continued to walk. Yohan frowned, “You haven’t told me anything about this job. And I can’t put it past you to sell me to the mafia to pay for rent.”

“In a place as nice as this?” Wooseok snorted and turned to look over his shoulder at Yohan, “We’re not broke, Yohan. I’m not going to sell you to pay for rent. We can afford rent just fine.”

Yohan sniffed, “What about your obsession with all your skincare products? They’re expensive. What if you’re selling me to afford all of that stuff?”

“Yohan,” Wooseok chuckled, “if I were going to sell you, I would have done it a long time ago. I wouldn’t wait until now to sell you to some sketchy mafia for money.” He paused. “Hey, how much do you think you’re worth, anyway?”

Yohan’s jaw dropped at his best friend. He narrowed his eyes at him, “Hyung! You’re not actually thinking of selling me at some point, are you?”

Wooseok laughed.

“I’ll only sell you if the buyer strikes a really good deal,” he replied. His lips curved into an amused smile and he winked at the younger man. “I can’t live without my best friend just yet.”

Yohan huffed at him.

“I can’t believe you. This is so terribly rude,” he said, “I can’t believe that you would even admit that you would consider selling me and then call me your best friend right after. You’re so fake.”

Wooseok snorted, “You won’t call me fake once you realize what Jinhyuk and I have in store for you.”

The model narrowed his eyes at Wooseok, his interest piqued at the mention of his best friend’s boyfriend. Lee Jinhyuk, Wooseok’s boyfriend, worked at a media company that was partnered with publishing firms that housed the top producers in the country; artists, musicians, photographers and videographers. Lee Jinhyuk had good connections in the industry—unimaginable connections that other models would die to have.

“You got your boyfriend to get me a job again?” Yohan frowned at the older man. It wouldn’t be the first time that Wooseok used his boyfriend’s name to shove Yohan into the spotlight. Yohan was grateful for what Wooseok did for him but it felt never stopped feeling strange to take favours from someone who never expected anything in return.

Wooseok shook his head, mirroring Yohan’s frown.

“No, I’ve been working hard for this opportunity,” he replied. “I’ve been doing petty chores for him for over three months for him to finally hear me out on this.”

Yohan made a face, “I don’t want to know what kind of chores you’ve been doing.”

Wooseok quickly glared at him, “It’s not like that, Yohan.”

They stopped walking in front of an open door at the end of the hallway. Wooseok turned to look at him with a bright smile on his lips. He clasped his hands together and motioned for Yohan to walk into the room first. There was a note of excitement in the way that Wooseok beckoned him. The model narrowed his eyes at his manager, suspicious of Wooseok’s words and behaviour.

“I don’t even know what we’re here for,” he said. Wooseok pushed him gently and rolled his eyes.

“Just go in,” he insisted. Wooseok’s fingers circled around his wrist and he pulled him into the room.

Yohan took a moment to survey the space around them when he entered the room. His eyes wandered as Wooseok dragged him to the dedicated waiting space in the room, where Wooseok would most likely be seated on his phone for the entirety of the photoshoot. He scanned the various props scattered around the room and the exquisite, red carpet laid out on the floor instead of the usual tarp Yohan was used to. The lights were angled towards a coloured wall and there were different chairs set up directly in its beam.

It was a setup he was used to seeing in a photo studio. Aside from the exquisite carpet laid out on the floor, nothing looked too special about the studio. Yohan was left wondering what was so special about this particular photo shoot that had his best friend acting weird—and had his best friend acting accordingly to his boyfriend’s bidding for three entire months.

Yohan turned to his best friend, ready to lower his voice to a whisper to ask but his eyes suddenly caught motion from behind the cameras. He immediately looked back.

Behind the cameras, a tall man in a clean, black suit layered over a crème-coloured turtle neck stood to adjust the various cameras to the lights beaming against the wall.

As if he hadn’t noticed them walk into the studio, the man remained fixated on adjusting the cameras and lights, his brows furrowed at the setup in front of him.

And Kim Yohan could recognize a form like that from a hundred miles away.

“Oh my God,” Yohan breathed, freezing completely as he took in the figure standing behind the camera. Wooseok turned to look at him with a knowing smile.

 _Holy shit._ The model gaped at his best friend and his eyes fixated on the man standing behind the setup of lights and cameras.

For as long as Yohan knew that he wanted to live his life in the limelight, he had considered every form of expression of being in an industry filled with celebrities as _art_. For as long as he knew how to admire art, Yohan could recall that he _adored_ the work of a photographer called ‘Han Seungwoo’.

There was something about the photographer’s work that struck some kind of emotion in him, something that he adored with everything he had. Every time he looked at something photographed by Han Seungwoo, despite it always being images of celebrity models, there was a feeling of amazement that overwhelmed him. The feeling of being left breathless.

And for as long as he had been in love with Han Seungwoo’s art, his friends teased him for the way that he gushed about the photographer’s work and laughed at him for purchasing every magazine volume that featured his work. He was passionate about the art of photography and Han Seungwoo’s work was his favourite. Han Seungwoo was a photographer but it was an art. Yohan argued with his friends that it was the same as purchasing an idol’s albums or collecting artwork prints from your favourite artist. And, in his blind love for the man’s art, a younger Kim Yohan even attended events to collect the photographer’s autographs of his copies of the magazines featuring his editorial photographs.

It was a dream to work with Han Seungwoo, someday in his life.

The dream came a little closer to him when he was scouted as a model but it always seemed so out of reach for someone as normal as Kim Yohan to work with someone like Han Seungwoo—a prodigy who only seemed to capture the most beautiful moments in life. In Yohan’s eyes, it was a dream he could never achieve. But it never hurt to dream.

 _To see Han Seungwoo in front of him now?_ Yohan suddenly felt like he couldn’t breathe.

Wooseok seemed to catch on quickly, Yohan’s open mouth giving away his shock. The older man’s eyes followed Yohan’s gaze to where they were glued to Seungwoo’s figure.

“You’ll survive,” Wooseok reassured him with a hand on his shoulder and a smug smile on his lips. He squeezed gently, “He doesn’t look like he can eat you alive.”

Slowly, Yohan turned to look at his best friend, finally able to tear his eyes away from the tall photographer.

“You set this up, didn’t you, hyung?” Yohan asked, his eyes wide in both terror and amazement. His awestruck expression looked almost comedic for a model. Wooseok laughed at him.

“Are you not going to thank me for it?” he asked, brow arched. Wooseok crossed his arms over his chest and pointed his chin over to where the photographer stood, setting up his equipment. “It honestly took months of trying to get Jinhyuk to set me up with his connections to get in contact with him, you know?”

Had Wooseok not dragged him into the studio so quickly, he might have recognized the neon autograph plastered on the wall in the foyer. He might have been a little more prepared for an encounter like this. When Wooseok texted him to take care of himself a week ago, it never even crossed his mind that it was because Wooseok had plotted an extravagant plan with his boyfriend to have Yohan meet his _idol._

“I’ve only ever seen him from across a table,” Yohan told him, eyes wide. Wooseok rolled his eyes with a laugh, amused at the younger man’s reaction (“Might I remind you that you met him when you were sixteen and refused to go to sleep without the signed magazine under your pillow?” Wooseok added, teasingly). Wooseok earned himself an indignant swat for his comment. “He’s so much taller than I thought he was.”

Wooseok crossed his arms and looked at the photographer—who had yet to notice them.

“He looks like he’s around your height to me,” he replied, brows furrowed in concentration at the man standing across the room from them. Yohan clasped his hands together, sighing dreamily.

“I’m a model,” he answered as if that explained anything. “Him being tall is… beautiful.”

“You just think he’s beautiful in general,” Wooseok said. He clapped his hand against the younger man’s shoulder with his lips pressed into a thin smile. “And you’re never going to be acknowledged if you don’t walk over there and say _‘hi’_ to him like you’re supposed to.”

Yohan gaped at him, “You want me to go alone?”

Wooseok furrowed his brows, “I’ve already met him.”

Yohan stared at him. The model gestured vaguely with his hands, “Doesn’t that mean you’re supposed to get us acquainted? You’re the familiar third party. You’re supposed to help me out, hyung.”

“I got you the job,” Wooseok answered. Yohan pouted at him. “… you’ve met him before, Yohan.”

The model rolled his eyes, “Yeah, almost five years ago at a fan-signing when I was sixteen. He probably doesn’t even remember me. Do you even know how many people were at that fan-signing? There is no way that he would remember me, hyung. How am I supposed to just approach him?”

“Yohan…” Wooseok stared at the younger man. He kept eye contact for a few seconds before he sighed. Wooseok squeezed his best friend’s shoulder comfortingly, “You’re letting your nerves get to you. Do I need to remind you that you’re actually here for a photoshoot? Do I need to physically waste air and remind you that you’re here because he’s going to be taking pictures of you for the next few hours?”

Yohan took a deep breath.

“Right,” he managed, “right, I should be professional.”

* * *

It turned out that ‘being professional’ was a little bit difficult for Yohan when he was awestricken from the moment he walked into the studio and realized he was breathing the same air as Han Seungwoo.

To Wooseok, it was hilarious to watch his best friend struggle to piece together a coherent sentence in front of the attractive photographer. Yohan has looked visibly tense when Seungwoo shook his hand and flashed him a brilliant smile. He looked like he was about to pass out if they held eye contact for longer than three seconds. Seungwoo had been equally as kind and smiley when Wooseok arranged a meeting with him in private but Yohan looked so elated to have shaken his hand that Wooseok couldn’t tell him.

Yohan held his best friend’s hand tightly as he sat in the makeup chair while several people flitted around them to cover up small blemishes on Yohan’s cheeks and dust his eyelids with a taupe shadow.

“Hyung,” he breathed as one of the makeup artists smeared concealer onto his cheek. Wooseok hummed in acknowledgement, looking at his best friend in the mirror. “Hyung, he’s so nice.”

“I thought you knew that,” Wooseok frowned. Yohan nodded his head.

“He’s nicer than I remembered him being,” he replied. “He’s also so much prettier than I remembered him being. My God, he looks like a heaven-sent angel. I think I forget how to breathe when I look at him.”

One of the makeup artists giggled at him. Yohan had the decency to flush when he made eye contact with her. He looked down at his hands, still entwined with Wooseok’s fingers.

“Yohan,” Wooseok started, his free hand reached to fix a flyaway hair that had fallen into Yohan’s eyes. Then, he placed it on top of the hand that was entwined with Yohan’s. “You need to tell me if you think you’re going to struggle with doing your job because you’re too thirsty for your photographer, got it?”

The makeup artist giggled again and turned away to excuse herself. Yohan glared at Wooseok.

“You don’t have to say it like that,” he said. Wooseok shrugged.

“You’re literally radiating with that giant crush you have on him,” Wooseok said. “I feel like I’m looking at sixteen-year-old fanboy Kim Yohan who just returned from his fan-signing at a sketchy old bookstore, not twenty-year-old professional Kim Yohan who knows exactly what he’s doing in front of a camera.”

Yohan sniffed.

“Age has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not I’m a fan of his artwork.”

Wooseok arched an eyebrow, “Are you sure this is about his artwork?”

Yohan refused to give Wooseok the satisfaction of an answer.

* * *

Han Seungwoo had a vivid vision for what matched Yohan’s face and physique. He had a grand plan for what to spend their few hours together on. Or at least, that was what Wooseok told him. His manager might have stretched the truth just a little bit. It really wouldn’t be the first time that Wooseok exaggerated a photographer’s excitement to work with Yohan (simply because _he_ was the one who was most excited about Yohan’s modelling projects). But Wooseok told him—with bright eyes—that Seungwoo had been thrilled to accept the offer to work with Yohan because he had ‘just the kind of face he was looking for’ for a very specific project.

Yohan had no idea what that actually meant but he certainly liked entertaining the idea that Han Seungwoo liked his face enough to have a plan presented to Wooseok on their first meeting. The icing on the cake was the comment on his physique, but that part was more likely to be subjected to Wooseok’s exaggerations. Seungwoo’s plans might have been pre-established without a specific model in mind but it felt good to know that he fit the description of what Seungwoo was looking for.

It felt a little bit like an unintentional Tinder match. Or maybe it was just a perfect blind date set up by the best wingman in the world. Except this wasn’t a date and Wooseok wasn’t exactly his wingman. This was work and Wooseok was his manager. But Wooseok was a very good manager who seemed to really take his employer’s interests into consideration when making job decisions. Yohan would give him a five-star rating at the end-of-year company staff evaluations. Wooseok was the best manager in the world.

He was willing to lay on the floor for every photoshoot if it was Han Seungwoo telling him to do it.

The photographer had him half-sprawled on the floor against the carpet, leaning back against an expensive-looking sofa. The pose felt a little awkward but Yohan was certain that there were no flaws in Seungwoo’s vision. He trusted the vision he couldn’t see.

“Can you turn your head this way for me?” Seungwoo’s voice was soft to his ears. Yohan followed his instructions eagerly. “Don’t look into the camera. Just look at me.”

Yohan didn’t need to be told twice to immediately fix his eyes onto the photographer’s face. He noticed the way Seungwoo’s lips curved into a small smile of satisfaction as the shutter of the camera closed. The photographer took a moment to admire the shot on the screen of his camera. He turned his head to look at the laptop perched on the stand next to him. Watching a distracted Seungwoo study his own work had the model relaxing in front of the camera lens.

Yohan’s eyes admired Seungwoo’s face while the older man looked at the screen of his laptop.

Seungwoo was handsome. He was tall and he was handsome. His side profile was striking. His face was structured as carefully as the detailed structure in his photographs—striking eyes, pretty lips and a sharp nose. Yohan’s eyes fell to Seungwoo’s jawline; sharp and strong. And in Yohan’s opinion, if Seungwoo wanted it, he could easily be a rival to Yohan in the modelling industry. The photographer was _gorgeous_.

It was kind of ironic that the model was so taken by the photographer’s appearance but Yohan found himself absolutely floored by the way Han Seungwoo simply breathed. And it could have all pulled itself back to the fact that a majority of his teenage years had been spent admiring this man’s art, but admiring someone’s art was significantly different from admiring someone’s entire being.

Sixteen-year-old fanboy Yohan clearly hadn’t paid enough attention to the photographer’s appearance during the single time they met. He remembered his hands being shaky as he took back the magazine. He didn’t remember Han Seungwoo being the most beautiful man he’d ever laid his eyes on.

Seungwoo’s satisfied smile at the screen of his laptop had Yohan’s lips subconsciously curving into a small smile. Seungwoo wasn’t looking at him, the camera wasn’t pointed at him, he could break character for a moment. Yohan suppressed the urge to let his smile grow at the thought of making his idol proud.

Seungwoo’s eyes flickered up to him for a moment. He flashed a grin at him.

“Perfect,” he murmured. Yohan’s heart fluttered in his chest as Seungwoo raised his camera again to continue their photoshoot.

_Yeah, you are._

* * *

“I have a brilliant idea,” Wooseok declared when their photoshoot was interrupted for a quick break and a timely visit from Lee Jinhyuk. Wooseok threw his arm around Yohan’s shoulders and watched from a distance as Seungwoo spoke to Jinhyuk. They were looking at a tablet in Jinhyuk’s hands in the corner of the studio, away from where Wooseok and Yohan sat together.

Wooseok’s boyfriend had come to the studio with a few questions about previous photoshoots they had done together, seeking Seungwoo’s input on their publishing. Apparently, Seungwoo was terrible with answering the emails that were sent out to him—so bad that Jinhyuk needed to seek him out in person to get timely answers. _Yohan_ found it endearing.

“What’s your brilliant idea?” Yohan asked.

Wooseok smiled at him, mischievous; “I’ll go talk to my boyfriend, and while he’s busy being distracted by me, you can ask Seungwoo for his number.”

Yohan frowned, “What makes you think that he’s just going to give me his number because I asked?”

“You are an idiot,” Wooseok replied. “Tell him it’s for work or something. Say you really enjoyed working with him today and would look forward to more opportunities to work with him.”

Yohan narrowed his eyes at Wooseok. “Is that how you got Jinhyuk hyung’s number back in the day?”

“Obviously,” Wooseok replied with a roll of his eyes. “It helps with a face like this.”

“Hyung, _I’m_ the model,” Yohan said. Wooseok stared at him.

“And that’s exactly my point.”

Yohan blinked rapidly. He looked at Wooseok with a conflicted frown, his head tilted in confusion, “Wait, you were complimenting me?”

“Yes, but I’m about to take that back and call you stupid, right now,” Wooseok retorted. Yohan pouted at him. Wooseok rolled his eyes and squeezed the younger man’s arm. “So, do you want Mister Beautiful Photographer’s number, Yohan? I’ll honestly distract Jinhyuk for you to do it in peace.”

Yohan cleared his throat and stared down at the floor, “… yeah,” he said. “I _do_. I do, but you know…”

Wooseok made a face. “What? Are you going to tell me that you’ve never asked for a boy’s number before?”

As if he hit the nail on the head, Yohan stared at him with wide, innocent eyes; pleading.

Wooseok sighed, “You’re pitiful, Yo. Absolutely pitiful.”

* * *

(Getting Seungwoo’s number was a lot easier than either of them made it out to be. Distracting Jinhyuk wasn’t even a necessary step in getting Seungwoo’s number.

As they finished up the photoshoot, Seungwoo offered his contact information to Wooseok with the intention to schedule future projects together, if it was something that Yohan was interested in—which Wooseok immediately accepted with a single glance to Yohan’s puppy eyes. And then, the photographer gave Yohan a kind smile and handed him a business card with his personal phone number scribbled onto the back of it because Wooseok nudged him to ask for it.

Seungwoo didn’t ask any questions. He just gave him his number when he asked for it. It was easy.

The hard part was being the first to text him. Yohan immediately added Seungwoo’s personal phone number into his contacts but he struggled to formulate the perfect first text message. Wooseok would tell him that he was overthinking everything—and maybe he was—but he couldn’t summon the courage to text anything random to the person he had been admiring since his teenage years.

“How do you text someone after experiencing love at first sight, hyung?” Yohan whined when they were back in Wooseok’s car, driving back to their shared apartment. In distress, the model leaned his head against the window and pouted. He tilted his head to look at Wooseok, who was focused on the road.

Wooseok rolled his eyes as the car rolled to a stop at a red light.

His manager turned to look at him, nose scrunched up at him in disbelief. Wooseok tapped his fingers impatiently against the steering wheel, “Just do it. Just be like, _‘hey, Seungwoo! It’s Yohan!’_ or something.”

Yohan clutched his cellphone to his chest.

“What if he thinks I’m desperate?”

Wooseok groaned, “Tell me which part of introducing yourself is desperate, Kim Yohan.”)

* * *

Yohan didn’t actually manage to work up the guts to text Seungwoo until two weeks later when Wooseok informed him that the photographer had uploaded teasers of their collaboration project onto his personal website.

He had enough shame to not freak out as soon as Wooseok mentioned it—but from the look on Wooseok’s face, the older man probably knew that he was on the verge of exploding from the simple mention of Han Seungwoo and their collaboration. Kim Wooseok knew everything and to a degree, it was unnerving. Despite knowing Wooseok for so many years of his life, there was still an irrational fear that underlined every thought Yohan had.

Kim Wooseok was a terrifying man.

And for that reason (and that reason alone), Yohan waited until Wooseok left the apartment before he dashed to the laptop he left on the coffee table in the middle of their living room. He sprawled onto the couch and Yohan immediately opened up his laptop. He searched up the photographer’s website to see the images. And as he marvelled at the way the photos had been edited, his fingers practically flew across the keyboard of his phone to send a text message to Seungwoo, praising his work.

`**Kim Yohan** (09:24 a.m.) `  
`Seungwoo hyung! I just saw the photo teasers that you uploaded onto your website. Hyung, they look so good, oh my God. You’re so amazing at what you do, I’m so impressed. And you made me look so good? ㅠㅠ I don’t even look that cute in real life. You’re so talented. I’m amazed!! `

The reply came relatively quickly.

Seungwoo replied to his text message before he could begin to regret that he had sent the messages at all. The heart of a fanboy overrode every rational thought he ever had when he was around Seungwoo but it seemed that Seungwoo was either oblivious to it or he accepted it with open arms. Regardless of which it was, Yohan was grateful that Seungwoo didn’t judge him for being an incomprehensible mess around him.

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:32 a.m.) `  
`Hello, Yohan ^^ I’m very happy to hear that you liked how the results of the photoshoot turned out. I am very happy with the results as well, so it is very reassuring to know that the model himself is happy. I don’t deserve all the praise you have for me but thank you. You’re incredibly sweet. `

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:35 a.m.) `  
`Haha. The way that you look in the photos is very much how you look in real life, Yohan. I didn’t do much editing at all. I didn’t do anything to your face. If you think that you look extra cute in the photos, then I would suggest that you consider: you look that cute in real life, as well. ^^`

His heart fluttered at the bare minimum when it came to Han Seungwoo, apparently, because he couldn’t help but smile to himself when the older man didn’t need to ask who was texting him to know that it was Yohan. Yohan forced himself to ignore the fact that it should have been obvious because his face was plastered all over Seungwoo’s homepage and there weren’t any other models displayed as recent works on his website. It had to be Yohan.

Yohan read the second message over several times before he buried his face into the cushion lying next to him. His cheeks flushed with colour. He squished the cushion against his face to muffle a scream—a squawk of bliss, really. He was a model and he should have been used to all the compliments he got on his face and physique but, strangely, it felt too good to be complimented by the photographer, by his idol—by someone as handsome as Han Seungwoo. He left the cushion pressed against his face to cover his nose and mouth as he formulated a reply to Seungwoo’s text message.

`**Kim Yohan** (09:42 a.m.) `  
`I’m that cute in real life? No way. You definitely have some sort of magic in those picture-taking fingers of yours. There’s no way that I look that cute in real life. `

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:43 a.m.) `  
`Hm. Maybe I do have a part in making you look better with camera angles. `

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:44 a.m.) `  
`I find it hard to believe that a model isn’t confident enough to believe that he really is that cute in real life. Are you looking for more compliments from me or do you really not believe that you’re that cute in person, Yohan? `

Yohan squished the pillow against his face, harder. He made a strangled sound at the back of his throat and his ears turned red as he read the text message. _Maybe he got caught._

`**Kim Yohan** (09:46 a.m.) `  
`Well, Wooseok hyung always told me that being photogenic and being cute were two very different things. I was just surprised to hear that you think that I’m cute in person. `

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:51 a.m.) `  
`You’re very cute in person. I mean no offence when I say that you behave a little bit like a nervous puppy. It’s very endearing. I’ve never met and worked with a model who was so shy. `

`**Kim Yohan** (09:55 a.m.) `  
`So, it’s not my face that you think is cute? :( `

`**Han Seungwoo** (10:00 a.m.) `  
`It seems like you want me to call you cute…?`

`**Kim Yohan** (10:00 a.m.) `  
`What if I do? `

`**Han Seungwoo** (10:01 a.m.) `  
`^^ You’re cute, Yohan. `

Yohan screamed into the cushion clutched to his chest. He thrashed on the couch with his cheeks coloured a bright red. The model grinned at his phone and hugged it to himself, squished into the cushion.

Someone cleared their throat from behind Yohan.

The model immediately jolted up on the sofa, ready to throw the cushion and run.

He was met with Wooseok standing behind him. The older man’s arms were crossed over his chest and his eyebrow was arched in interest. He gave Yohan a slow once-over and the corner of his lips quirked up into an amused smirk. Wooseok tilted his head.

“And what are you doing, Yohan?”

(He suddenly wished he could melt into the couch and disappear.)

* * *

The first non-work-related text message he received from Seungwoo was a random text message at three in the afternoon—a week and a half after their initial exchange—about what he should have for lunch. It detailed a brief argument he had with his roommate about what they _both_ wanted to eat for lunch. The argument resulted in a lack of food for both parties because they couldn’t come to an agreement about what they wanted. Seungwoo had left for work insisting that he would grab something to eat on the way to work and he had completely forgotten about it until he decided to text Yohan.

Yohan’s immediate concern was the fact that Seungwoo had yet to have lunch at three in the afternoon. He certainly wasn’t close enough to the older man to scold him for it but he immediately gave in to the urge that told him to.

`**Kim Yohan** (03:41 p.m.) `  
`First of all, why have you not eaten anything? :( that’s very bad for you! You at least had breakfast, right? You ate something today, right? :((( `

`**Han Seungwoo** (03:42 p.m.) `  
`My assistant brought me coffee this morning before work! Does that count? `

`**Kim Yohan** (03:42 p.m.) `  
`>:( hyung! You have to eat something!! You can’t just work straight on coffee. That’s not good for you! What if something happens to you? `

`**Han Seungwoo** (03:43 p.m.) `  
`I promise I will eat something as soon as you help me make a decision. `

`**Kim Yohan** (03:46 p.m.) `  
`Okay, I searched up some options for you on Google. `  
`So, your studio is really close to this really nice sandwich shop. They do delivery too if you don’t want to leave your studio to go get food. And there’s also a cafe nearby that Wooseok hyung used to always take me to when we didn’t have time to get real food! They serve some really cool appetizers that could pass for a full meal’s nutrition, I swear. And if you don’t want any of those things then I recommend fried chicken. That’s always a good option. `

Seungwoo didn’t send a response to his text message immediately and Yohan immediately started overthinking. Yohan moved from where he was seated next to Wooseok on the sofa and paced nervously in the living room of his apartment as he waited for a response. _Perhaps he had gone a little overboard with the research? Maybe it was a little too strange?_

“What are you doing, Yohan?” Wooseok looked up from his phone and watched him pace from his spot on the sofa. His manager frowned, “You look like the world is falling apart between your fingers and you don’t know how to fix it. You were perfectly happy fifteen minutes ago.”

Fifteen minutes ago, he received his last text message from Seungwoo. Yohan immediately turned to his manager with a pout on his lips.

“I sent Seungwoo hyung a really long text message and he hasn’t answered me.”

Wooseok quirked an eyebrow in interest. “About?”

Yohan blinked, “Um… about food. He asked me what he should have for lunch.”

Wooseok rolled his eyes.

“Just wait, Yohan,” he replied. “I’m sure he’s not ignoring you.”

The model sniffed.

“But what if he is?”

“He’s not,” Wooseok replied. “I can bet you my entire end-of-year bonus that he isn’t ignoring you.”

Yohan fell back onto the sofa next to his manager. He shifted to rest his head in Wooseok’s lap. The older man sighed but slid his fingers into Yohan’s hair and gently stroked it, soothingly.

Quietly, Yohan spoke, “… I would make the bet but that would mean that I need to hope that he’s actually ignoring me to win the bet. And I don’t want to be right.”

Wooseok smacked his arm.

* * *

`**Han Seungwoo** (08:45 p.m.) `  
`I’m so sorry, I forgot to text you back! I had to get right back to work after I had something to eat so it completely slipped my mind to text you. Thank you for putting so much effort into answering my question! I listened to you and got something nice from the cafe you mentioned. Thank you for the recommendation, Yohan. It was very delicious. ^^`

* * *

The second time he received a random text message from Seungwoo, it was early in the morning and it was about what he should order from the café Yohan had recommended to him (“I trust you to give me a good recommendation because you told me about this place in the first place!” Seungwoo’s text had read). And slowly, almost humorously, the text messages developed their relationship into a chaotic call for help whenever they needed to make any kind of decision. For Yohan, it quickly became an outlet to complain about Wooseok (as an excuse to talk to Seungwoo).

The text messages didn’t come every day but a single instance of their text messages involved a slightly frustrated Yohan complaining to Seungwoo about his manager being completely unfair in scheduling his photoshoots. In response to Yohan’s text message, Seungwoo had jokingly suggested that Yohan let him personally have a word with Wooseok about it. And from that, it spiralled.

Yohan, on a whim, summoned Seungwoo to mediate every disagreement he had with Wooseok after that (“Hyung, everyone knows that if we got Jinhyuk hyung to try to work out our disagreements, he would take your side because he’s your boyfriend and he’s terribly biased because of it,” Yohan insisted). And every time, without fail, Wooseok rolled his eyes at him (“You say that like Seungwoo wouldn’t take your side for all of these arguments because you’re closer to him,” Wooseok argued). As happy as the implication made him, though, Seungwoo often remained as a neutral and fair third-party in mediating their arguments. More often than not, Seungwoo would eventually argue to benefit Wooseok and, as a result, coax Yohan into doing what Wooseok originally wanted him to do anyway.

But whether or not he managed to hold up his side of the argument against Wooseok, Yohan continuously used the ongoing conversation with Seungwoo as an excuse to continue texting him for the rest of the day. And Wooseok had him all figured out. He made sure he knew it.

When Yohan was least expecting it (clarification: Yohan never expected it ever), Wooseok looked him dead in the eye, wickedly smirked at him, and suggested they get into a stupid argument so Yohan could use it as an excuse to text Seungwoo. The model’s cheeks flushed with colour and he refused to look Wooseok in the eye for the rest of the day. (And secretly, he proceeded to update Seungwoo on how Wooseok was bullying him, making sure to leave out as many details as possible about the reason behind it.)

* * *

The problem with Han Seungwoo was that he was sweet. He was sweet, comforting and warm. He was like the familiar feeling of coming home to a loved one’s gentle embrace after a long, tiring day. And for Kim Yohan, that was an arrow through the heart—a striking feeling that had him pinned down and pushed him over the edge of being positively in love. Admiration quickly bloomed into a helpless crush that had him smiling stupidly at his phone, every time it buzzed with a text notification from Seungwoo.

It took two months of Yohan trying to be sneaky when texting Seungwoo before Wooseok intervened. Or at least, before Wooseok let Yohan know that he was perfectly aware of what he was doing when he was smiling like an idiot at his phone whenever he had any downtime. Wooseok’s intervention acted as more of a push to force Yohan into the direction that the model clearly wanted to take their relationship with his consecutive text messages and giggles at his phone.

The intervention played out a lot more like an attack on Yohan’s attempt to play it cool. Truthfully, no part of Yohan’s attempt was actually as cool and nonchalant as he hoped it was. Quite honestly, Yohan’s crush on Han Seungwoo was written all over his face from the first moment he looked at him. It took a special type of oblivious to not know about Yohan’s crush (or maybe Wooseok’s years of friendship with Yohan made everything a little more obvious).

Yohan was waiting for Wooseok to clean off the windshield of his car in their apartment complex’s parking lot, seated in the car on his phone. He was grinning to himself as his fingers flew across the screen. He didn’t notice the older man had finished his task until the driver’s seat door slammed shut and Wooseok was sitting right beside him with a knowing arch of his eyebrow, his arms crossed over his chest.

“What has you looking so giddy before your schedule?” Wooseok asked. His tone was casual but there was something about it that told Yohan that he was perfectly aware of his surroundings and lying to him was impossible.

Yohan quietly shoved his phone underneath the jacket that rested on his lap, trying to hide any evidence. Wooseok’s eyebrow only arched higher. His manager tilted his head.

“What has you so _nervous_ in front of me?” the question amended itself, Wooseok’s tone suddenly sounded a lot more surprised and confused than it sounded knowing.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Wooseok snorted. His eyes trailed down to where Yohan clutched his phone in his hands under the puffed material of his winter coat. “You are not as smart as you think you are.”

_“Hyung!”_

“Just what do you think you’re hiding from me?” Wooseok laughed. He rolled his eyes, “You’re texting Seungwoo. We both know it, Yohan. It isn’t a very well kept secret.”

Yohan pouted at him, “So what?”

Wooseok tilted his head. “You should ask him out.”

Yohan paled. Wooseok chuckled.

“No, like, don’t just _ask him out_. Ask him to go on a date,” Wooseok clarified. He shrugged his shoulders, lips pursed slightly, “You can’t keep texting him all the time, giggling to yourself, and hope that he knows you’re interested in him. You should let him know that you’re interested in him.” Wooseok traced his fingertips against the edge of the steering wheel and shifted his eyes, “… not that I think he isn’t aware of your massive crush on him. He probably knows.”

Yohan bit down on his lower lip. He made a face.

“I’m not that obvious, hyung. I’m only obvious to you because you live with me and you know me too well,” he replied. He sighed and toyed with the phone in his hands, “Besides, you’re always working me to death. I don’t have any time to be asking people to go out on dates with me.”

“You _baby_ ,” Wooseok snorted. “Listen, you have all of next week off from work. I won’t be in the city because I’m going to visit Jinhyuk’s family with him for the holidays. I left you with absolutely nothing to do, so you could potentially fill up your free time by asking a certain Han Seungwoo out on a date.”

Yohan chewed on his lower lip.

“I have literally never asked anyone out on a date before.”

* * *

`**Kim Yohan** (11:37 p.m.) `  
`Hey, hyung. Are you free any time next week? `

`**Han Seungwoo** (07:38 a.m.) `  
`I have a couple of days to myself next week. Why? `

`**Kim Yohan** (08:56 a.m.) `  
`I was just wondering if I could come to see you some time next week…? I don’t have anything planned all week, so I was hoping that maybe we could grab something to eat one day? `

Yohan could already hear Wooseok’s voice echoing in the back of his mind, scolding him for being so bad at asking someone out on a date. Wooseok wouldn’t be pleased with how he approached it. But Wooseok also wasn’t breathing down his neck and perfectly aware of every single text message he sent to Seungwoo. Surely, Seungwoo would get the hint. Surely, it was obvious enough that Yohan was asking him out on a date for the holidays. _Surely._

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:10 a.m.) `  
`Oh? Did you have something you wanted to talk to me about, Yohan? `

`**Kim Yohan** (09:12 a.m.) `  
`Haha, something like that. `  
`So, what do you say? Can I come to see you sometime next week? `

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:17 a.m.) `  
`Sure! I’m not working on Tuesday. `

`**Kim Yohan** (09:22 a.m.) `  
`Okay, Tuesday is good! `  
`Dinner at seven, hyung? `

`**Han Seungwoo** (09:23 a.m) `  
`^^ Dinner at seven sounds good! `

`**Kim Yohan** (09:25 a.m.) _[Unsent Draft]_`  
`Okay, it’s a date! ♡`

* * *

The hours that led up to meeting Seungwoo at a restaurant near the older man’s studio turned out to be the most nerve-wracking and stressful moments of his life. If it was any other person that he was meeting up with, he would be fine. He had been on several dates before in his life. It had been a while since his last date, but it wasn’t enough to justify the amount of nervousness pulsing through his veins. The date itself wasn’t the problem, Yohan was aware of that. He knew that fact better than anything else.

It was because he was seeing Seungwoo. It seemed that whenever Han Seungwoo was a part of the equation, Yohan felt a little helpless. And without Wooseok standing right beside him to ground him and reassure him of every little thing, Yohan felt a little like a lost puppy.

He couldn’t tell if he was dressed _too_ nicely for a first date.

He let his nerves take over.

He stood in front of the mirror for an entire hour, unable to decide anything for himself. And eventually, he succumbed to desperately texting Wooseok for help. In a blind panic, he sprawled out on his bed and sent a series of different photos to the older man with slightly different outfits followed by a series of question marks.

Wooseok got the hint. He replied quickly.

`**Kim Wooseok** (05:21 p.m.) `  
`The fifth one. Those jeans make your legs look longer. Wear that one. `  
`A+ for your thighs in those jeans, too. Best choice for killing a man on sight. `

`**Kim Yohan** (05:21 p.m.) `  
`;___; I’m not trying to kill him, hyung! `

`**Kim Wooseok** (05:22 p.m.) `  
`Trust me, Yohan: you are. `

`**Kim Wooseok** (05:25 p.m.) `  
`Oh, and also, you should wear the jacket I bought you for your birthday last year. `  
`It makes you look like a mysterious boyfriend. `

Wooseok’s advice was all he had. And Yohan trusted his best friend’s word with everything he had.

His best friend was his manager for a good reason. He was an infinite fountain of knowledge about fashion and that was why he worked in the industry. Kim Wooseok was to be trusted. And besides, Wooseok had a boyfriend for a good reason, right? It wasn’t just because Jinhyuk would have willingly given him the world from their first meeting, right? Yohan was certain that his best friend knew exactly what he was talking about. Wooseok always seemed to know what he was talking about.

He took a deep breath and got dressed for his date.

Somehow, the thought of going on a date with Seungwoo was still so nerve-wracking.

* * *

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:08 p.m.) `  
`You’re going to be okay, Yohan. I can feel your nerves radiating through the phone. `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:27 p.m.) `  
`Sorry, hyung. I didn’t have any signal on the train. `  
`I’m going to be fine! I’m not freaking out! `

`**Kim Wooseok** (6:32 p.m.) `  
`Whatever you say. `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:32 p.m.) `  
`Okay, maybe I’m freaking out just a little bit. `  
`I’m standing outside the restaurant and I’m shaking but it’s not because it’s cold. `

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:35 p.m.) `  
`You’re going to survive. You’re going to go in there and knock a man dead with your looks. `  
`And your boyish charm or whatever you want to call it. `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:37 p.m.) `  
`Just the kind of pep talk I needed, hyung. You’re great. `

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:37 p.m.) `  
`^^ I know, you love me. I’m the best. `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:40 p.m.) `  
`No! You’re the worst. I can’t believe you. `  
`You’re not the right kind of supportive. I’m not trying to kill someone, hyung! `

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:41 p.m.) `  
`You say that like I would be supportive of you if you actually were trying to kill someone. `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:42 p.m.) `  
`… are you saying that you wouldn’t be? `

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:45 p.m.) `  
`I didn’t say that. `  
`Isn’t your date at seven? Shouldn’t you head into the restaurant now? `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:45 p.m.) `  
`Yes. I should. `  
`This conversation isn’t over, hyung. :( it will continue when you come back to Seoul!! `

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:48 p.m.) `  
`:) Take care. Have fun. `

`**Kim Wooseok** (06:53 p.m.)`  
`I’m with Jinhyuk and his family and I know you hate calling me when you know I’m with my boyfriend and his family, but remember that if you need anything at all, I’m just a phone call away, Yohan. `

`**Kim Yohan** (06:55 p.m.) `  
`You worry too much, hyung. I’ll be fine! Thank you! `

* * *

As breathtaking as the photographer already looked to Yohan when they formally met several months ago, Seungwoo outdid himself tonight. Or maybe, in Yohan’s eyes, Seungwoo always looked stunning. Yohan’s rose-coloured lenses when it came to Han Seungwoo proved itself time and time again when he spoke about the photographer. To him, Han Seungwoo was drop-dead gorgeous; _perfect_. There was no one who could outdo him.

Yohan took a breath when Seungwoo approached their table with the server and he nervously clasped his hands together on the table. He resisted the urge to desperately wipe his palms on the material of his jeans. As Seungwoo moved closer to their table, the model flashed Seungwoo a smile and timidly waved his hand in greeting. Seungwoo returned the smile.

“Hi, hyung,” Yohan said, softly. Seungwoo chuckled.

“Hello, Yohannie,” he replied. Yohan’s heart fluttered in his chest. The nickname sounded a million times better when he could actually hear Seungwoo’s voice saying it. Over the past few weeks, their friendship continued to build over the text messages they sent one another and Yohan spent _days_ of his time imagining what it might sound like when Seungwoo called him _‘Yohannie’_ with that soft voice of his. Actually hearing it felt like soaring over the moon.

The server placed their menus onto the table in front of them and stepped away to offer the seat to Seungwoo. Yohan watched as the older man took a seat across from him. The small smile on Seungwoo’s lips never left.

“It’s been a while since we’ve seen one another in person, hasn’t it?”

Yohan nodded his head shyly at his remark.

“It’s been a while,” he replied, his voice as soft as it was when he greeted the photographer. Then, just a little quieter, he muttered, “I almost forgot how handsome you were in person.”

Seungwoo laughed at the comment. He tilted his head in amusement, “Is my face forgettable, Yohannie?”

Yohan immediately shook his head in a panic, “No! Not at all, hyung!”

“I’m just kidding,” Seungwoo told him with a grin. The older man’s eyes twinkled with mischief, “It’s okay if you think it is. There’s a reason I’m not the model.”

Flustered, Yohan looked down at his hands. He fidgeted nervously and started rambling, “I think you’re handsome enough to be a model, hyung! I think you have a really good aura! I think you’re really handsome and you could really kill a man if you wanted to!”

“Enough to kill a man, hm?” The amusement in Seungwoo’s eyes felt teasing. Yohan’s heartbeat raced.

Yohan flushed, “ _That’s_ not what I meant either. Wooseok hyung has been saying that a lot and I’m starting to pick up on his speaking habits, I think.”

There was a moment of silence between them. Yohan peered up at Seungwoo—a cautious peek. Their eyes met and Yohan’s eyes quickly darted away. His fingers gripped his own wrist nervously. Seungwoo reached forward and gently placed a hand on Yohan’s hand. The model froze.

“Are you nervous, Yohannie?” Seungwoo asked. Shyly, Yohan nodded his head. “Why? Don’t be.”

Yohan looked down.

“That’s a lot easier said than done,” he replied. Seungwoo’s thumb gently stroked his hand. Yohan’s eyes fixed on where their hands met on the table. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest. “You make me nervous.”

Seungwoo frowned, “Did I do something to make you nervous?”

The model shook his head.

“No! You didn’t. It’s nothing bad, hyung, I promise,” he insisted. His cheeks felt hot but he continued to speak. His eyes avoided the photographer’s, “It’s just that I really admire you and… it feels really surreal to be sitting in front of you like this.”

“You admire me?” Seungwoo looked surprised. He tilted his head in curiosity and studied Yohan’s expression. “What for?”

Yohan thumbed through the menu with his free hand, shyly. The nervousness was replaced by timidity and bashfulness as he admitted his admiration.

“I’m a really big fan of your work, hyung. So much that I even went to your fan-signings a couple of years ago,” he said, quietly. The memory of meeting Han Seungwoo in person in the middle of a bookstore in a shady part of town was a good one—one he always liked to think about. Yohan liked recalling their first meeting before he was privileged enough to be more than just a fan. He absently shifted his fingers underneath Seungwoo’s and exhaled softly, “It’s kind of embarrassing but I framed your autograph and Wooseok hyung makes fun of me for it all the time. I just really liked your work and I never imagined that I would get to work with you one day. It’s just all very surreal.”

Seungwoo’s lips pressed into a small smile.

“I’m flattered, Yohannie,” Seungwoo said. Yohan’s eyes quickly flickered to where Seungwoo’s hand was gently rested on his own. “You’re very sweet. I had no idea that you liked my work so much.”

Yohan smiled shyly to himself. The fond gaze from Seungwoo sparked a little bit of confidence in him and the model raised his eyes to meet with Seungwoo’s. The photographer was looking straight at him. Yohan bit down on his lower lip, resisting the urge to let a smile overwhelm his entire expression. “Not even after I texted you that whole paragraph about how I thought our collaboration was the best thing since sliced bread?”

There was a playful twinkle in Seungwoo’s eyes.

“Maybe I had a slight idea.”

* * *

Dinner did not end up as an absolute disaster as Yohan’s worst fears told him it would be.

Talking to Seungwoo was as easy as texting him had been. It was easy to be with Seungwoo and Yohan couldn’t be more grateful to learn the fact. He felt comfortable as they talked about what their lives and jobs brought them in the past weeks and their plans for the holidays.

As it turned out, Seungwoo didn’t have much planned for the holidays until the following week because a majority of his family plans were made to surround his birthday—a day that Yohan had committed to memory to sustain his title as Han Seungwoo’s biggest fan. Most of his time was to be dedicated to working (“Hyung, don’t you ever do anything fun with your time?” Yohan frowned as he toyed with his fork. Seungwoo offered him a shrug and a quiet laugh before he insisted that his work _was_ fun).

Yohan must have looked disappointed to have to let go of the moment because it was Seungwoo who suggested that they walk around together before they called it a night. Yohan did his best to not look too eager when he accepted the older man’s offer.

(And then his attempt at a calm persona around Seungwoo immediately shattered when the photographer suggested that he paid for their meal. Yohan practically wrestled the bill out of his hands and threatened to never speak to him again if he dared to touch his wallet. And though they were both perfectly aware that Yohan wouldn’t be able to keep his word, Seungwoo relented.)

It all felt like a dream come true to Yohan—walking next to Seungwoo, weaving through the crowds of people scattered down the decorated streets.

He felt giddy.

Yohan smiled to himself, exhaling softly into the warm scarf wrapped around his neck.

“What’s on your mind?” Seungwoo’s voice caught him off guard. Yohan turned his head to look at him.

He shrugged his shoulders but his eyes glittered from over the edge of his scarf.

“I’m just thinking about how this all just still feels so unreal,” he said, quietly. “I spent so much of my life admiring you so much and now I’m on a date with my idol? It’s literally a miracle.”

Seungwoo’s footsteps stopped. He paused.

The photographer turned to glance at him.

“This is a date?” he asked.

Yohan’s heart stopped.

 _“Oh,”_ Yohan breathed out.

His eyes visibly shook as he looked at the older man with wide eyes. He could see the older man’s mind reeling with thought, he could see the way that Seungwoo tried to backtrack. He swallowed and flashed Seungwoo a nervous smile. And subconsciously, he began backing away from the photographer.

“I mean, it doesn’t have to be a date if you don’t want it to be. That’s okay, too.”

Seungwoo took a step closer to him, “Wait, Yohan. That’s not what I meant—…”

Yohan laughed nervously and his eyes darted around their surroundings (desperately looking for a place to hide), looking everywhere but at Seungwoo. He avoided the older man’s eyes.

“Um, I think… I think Wooseok hyung is calling me. I should pick up the phone. He gets really upset when I don’t pick up the phone quickly because it’s always something really important. It’s probably something really important,” he rambled and fumbled with his cell phone. It wasn’t ringing and it was obvious but he did his best to avoid Seungwoo’s eyes, “um, I’ll see you later, hyung!”

He didn’t wait to hear Seungwoo’s response. The model quickly weaved through the crowd of people surrounding them and walked away from him. He left the older man to stand in the middle of the park—left him to be swallowed up by the swarm of strangers. Yohan couldn’t look back.

He ran.

* * *

Yohan never knew that heartbreak was a physical feeling but it _hurt_ when Seungwoo looked at him and asked him about the nature of their meeting. He supposed that he hadn’t been clear but the night had been so sweet and delicate; he thought that it was obvious that it was a date. He couldn’t blame him but Seungwoo had been the one who placed his hand on top of his own hand first. He thought he knew.

It was evident now that he was wrong.

Yohan stood with his back pressed against a wall of a nearby shop. He didn’t move far from where he left Seungwoo but he knew that the older man didn’t follow him through the crowd of people. He wouldn’t be receiving constant text messages from Seungwoo if the older man had followed him. He didn’t read any of the text messages and he swiped away the incoming phone call from the older man. But, the simple thought of Seungwoo only fueled the festering pain in his chest.

Yohan’s hands shook as he dialled his best friend’s phone number.

Wooseok picked up the phone quickly.

 _“Yohan?”_ came the greeting. And then, _“what’s wrong? What happened, Yohan?”_

He didn’t realize that his eyes had begun to water in the time between running away from Seungwoo and hearing Wooseok’s voice. Yohan took a deep breath and the sound of his voice broke obviously through the speaker of his phone. It triggered Wooseok’s panic. There was the sound of shuffling on Wooseok’s side of the call and then the quiet click of a door. In an instant, his surroundings were muted.

 _“Yohan, are you_ crying _?”_ Wooseok asked. _“What did he do to you, my God?”_

“ _Hyung_ ,” Yohan sniffled into the phone, “I’m so _stupid_.”

 _“No, no, no. No, you’re not,”_ Wooseok replied. He sounded so certain of himself that Yohan almost believed him for a second. _“Tell me what happened, Yohan. What made you cry? Do I need to come back to Seoul immediately and kick someone’s ass?”_

“Hyung, I don’t think he likes me,” Yohan told him. “I don’t think Seungwoo hyung likes me.”

 _“What did he do? Why do you think he doesn’t like you?”_ The frown in Wooseok’s voice was obvious. _“Didn’t he agree to go on a date with you? Why would he do that if he didn’t like you, Yohan?”_

Yohan sniffed.

“I don’t know,” he answered, miserably. “I should have listened to you, hyung. I should have made it more clear that it was a date. He didn’t even know that it was a date.”

There was silence on Wooseok’s side of the line.

_“What do you mean he didn’t know it was a date?”_

“I don’t know, hyung. I just—!”

There was the sound of movement from behind him. Yohan froze.

_“Yohan?”_

“Hyung…? I’ll call you back later,” he murmured. His best friend made a confused sound on the other end of the line. Yohan quickly wiped his eyes of the remnants from his tears. “I think he found me.”

A thick silence followed the beep when Yohan hung up the phone on Wooseok.

“Yohannie?” came Seungwoo’s voice from the side of the building. Yohan refused to look up. He kept his eyes trained on the photographer’s shadow, cast on the pavement from the streetlight behind him.

A sigh.

“I know you’re there,” he continued. “Yohan, can we talk?”

There was a long silence. Seungwoo waited.

“Why did you follow me?” Yohan managed to say after a moment. Seungwoo sighed.

“Was I supposed to let you run away from me?”

“Yes,” Yohan replied. _No, you weren’t,_ he thought.

“If you really don’t want to see me, that’s okay,” Seungwoo told him. “I wanted to apologize. But if you don’t want to see me then I will leave and you can pretend I never found you, okay?”

“You don’t have to apologize, hyung,” Yohan murmured. “It’s my fault that I assumed it was a date.”

“You were the one who asked me out,” Seungwoo replied. From his shadow, Yohan could see the way Seungwoo leaned against the other side of the corner that separated them. They were so close but Yohan couldn’t bring himself to look Seungwoo in the eye. Seungwoo sighed, “I should have asked about your intention. Or at the very least, I shouldn’t have reacted like that.”

“It’s okay,” Yohan said. He resisted the urge to cry again. He tore his eyes away from Seungwoo’s shadow. Yohan looked down at the floor. His voice cracked, “You didn’t want to go on a date with me and I assumed that you did. That’s my fault entirely. You don’t have to apologize for that.”

The sound of his voice triggered panic. Seungwoo immediately pushed himself off the wall and rounded the corner to stand in front of him. The older man’s hands quickly grabbed Yohan’s hands.

“Don’t _cry_ ,” he whispered. “I’m sorry, please don’t cry, Yohannie.”

“It’s just so embarrassing,” Yohan managed to say. The model laughed at himself, a miserable sound almost drowned out by the crack in his voice. “You don’t have to do this, hyung. Just reject me and go.”

Seungwoo inhaled sharply, “Yohannie, I’m not trying to reject you.”

Yohan looked up, confused. His eyes were still ringed with red from the tears he shed earlier. Seungwoo raised his thumb to gently brush away a stray tear that hadn’t dried on Yohan’s cheek.

“Yohannie, I think you’re very cute and I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. It just caught me by surprise because I didn’t think it was a date—I didn’t know that you liked me enough to want to take me on a date.” Seungwoo’s hands felt warm against his cheeks and Yohan couldn’t take his eyes away from him. “I knew you liked me as a person but… not how much. I don’t know if that makes sense but, Yohannie, I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to make you cry.”

Yohan sniffed. “Well, you did.”

“Forgive me?” Seungwoo asked, his voice soft and gentle. Yohan felt the warmth bubble up in his chest again. He bit down on his lower lip. “Please forgive me, Yohannie. I would really like to take you on a date if you would let me make up for the misunderstanding we had.”

A pause. Yohan glanced up.

“… just to make up for the misunderstanding?”

Seungwoo shook his head. “Not just for the misunderstanding. Also, because I think you’re cute and would like to see you more often instead of just texting you all the time. Is that okay?”

Yohan blinked up at him quietly. “… so, you don’t actually hate me for assuming that we were going on a date and then running away from you?”

“No, I don’t,” Seungwoo replied. “I want to take you on a real date.”

Hesitantly, the model nodded his head. He looked down and mumbled, “Okay. Forgiven.”

The small smile that always seemed to grace the older man’s lips immediately returned when Yohan granted him forgiveness. Yohan swore his heart would melt if he looked at the older man for too long. And then, Seungwoo raised his other hand to reveal a single white flower wrapped with a ribbon.

He offered the flower to the model with an apologetic look in his eyes, “This is for you.”

Yohan stared at the flower in his hands, silently.

“It’s for you,” Seungwoo explained. “I just bought it for you… to apologize.”

“I already forgave you,” he muttered despite the race of his heart and the heat he could feel rushing to his cheeks. Seungwoo chuckled quietly.

“I still want you to have it,” he replied. Yohan quietly took the flower from the photographer with a huff. Seungwoo offered his other hand to the model, “and I would like to hold your hand, too.”

With a roll of his eyes, Yohan held out his free hand.

Seungwoo took it with a smile.

“Let’s dry those tears and go somewhere nice together, shall we?”

* * *

`**Kim Wooseok** (12:24 a.m.) `  
`Yohan, I’ve been waiting for an update for hours. I’m getting really worried. `  
`Everyone in Jinhyuk’s house is asleep and I can’t fall asleep because I’m afraid you’re dead. `  
`Please tell me you’re alive. Where are you? `

`**Kim Yohan** (12:27 a.m.) `  
`We worked it out, hyung. Everything is okay. `  
`We went to an arcade together and he won me a stuffed animal. He’s so strong. `  
`Oh, and also, I’m staying the night at Seungwoo hyung’s place! ^^`

`**Kim Yohan** (12:28 a.m.) _[1 Image Attached]_` _  
_ `Ahh, look at how cute Seungwoo hyung looks with a face mask on. `  
`Hyung, I think I’m in love. `

`**Kim Wooseok** (12:28 a.m.) `  
`I hate you. `  
`I will literally fucking kill you the next time you make me worry about your dumb ass. `

`**Kim Yohan** (12:29 a.m.) `  
`No! My boyfriend is big and strong and he’s not afraid of you! `

`**Kim Wooseok** (12:29 a.m.) `  
`He’s not scared of me but you are. Watch yourself, Kim Yohan. `  
`He’s not even your boyfriend yet. `

`**Kim Yohan** (12:30 a.m.)`  
`He will be!! Soon!! `

**Author's Note:**

> [twt](https://twitter.com/yuseokki) / [cc](https://curiouscat.me/jjokkiri) ♡  
> i still don't know what i'm doing! _surprise!_ here's my contribution to seunghan. seunghan rise and never perish.


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